Raja Bell will not accept a buyout of his contract with the Jazz before Friday’s midnight deadline for him to be eligible to sign with another team and play in the postseason, his agent told Bill Oram of the Salt Lake Tribune.

The details:

Bell, who is being paid $3.48 million this season, has been away from the team all year since directing unflattering comments at coach Tyrone Corbin at the end of last season. Earlier this week, Jazz Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Kevin O’Connor told a team-owned radio station that the Jazz had offered the minimum buyout to Bell before the season and that “we never heard from him.”

“The framework of the buyout we have had in place all year was premised on us finding an offer in the league,” Rudoy said in a text messsage to The Tribune. “We did not, so Raja is turning down the buyout.”

Lakers fans can breathe a sigh of relief, as Bell was on the team’s radar, thanks to the fondness both Mike D’Antoni and Kobe Bryant have expressed for Bell’s game in the past. But besides the fact that Bell is no longer close to the defensive stopper and high-percentage three-point shooter that he once was, reports had L.A. cooling on the idea in recent days over payroll and luxury tax concerns.

It’s unclear whether or not Bell has anything left; his production has diminished quite a bit in recent seasons, likely due to a combination of injury and age. His temperament isn’t a great fit for … well, anyone at this point, which is why he’s been paid to stay home by the Jazz since the beginning of the season.

Nobody cares about your $hitty blog. What a loser. Why would anyone want to go to your blog to read the same story. Stop posting this crap you wanna be sports writer. I hate when idiots do this acting like they’re blog is some sort of breaking news outlet. LOSER!

hey, get cha money mang. can’t knock him. in the end, your future great grandson’s won’t really have a recollection of him if you know what i mean. so get your money, and test the market when you’re free. the jazz were playing hardball. and the VP of the jazz actually said he didn’t want to grant an easy buyout to prevent him form going to the lakers? so childish. sounds like grade school ish…”i’m not giving you the gameshark code because i don’t want you to get mew”

Childish is how Bell has acted! You can see him crossing his arms saying “no I don’t want to”. He’s a cancer and doesn’t deserve to be on the court not to mention the money he’s getting paid to be another crybaby athlete. People want to give him props for standing his ground and that’s exactly what’s wrong with this world. People wanting more than what their worth.

Jazz signed him to the $3.48 million as part of the three-year, $10 million deal they gave him. Being that it’s a CONTRACT, he’s entitled to it. It’s his call to accept a buyout, which is why it’s called a buyout offer. Whether or not it’s “what he’s worth” is irrelevant and ultimately his worth is determined by what a team is willing to pay him…

Hows he wanting more than hes worth exactly u idiot. The jazz owe him the money on the contract. It would benefit both the jazz(save money off the rest of the duration of bells contract and hes not a problem anymore) and Bell(gets to finally play somewhere) if they both did a buyout. But why should he take a minimum buyout?? As some1 pointed out above the guy from the jazz said he didnt want him to go play for the lakers or another team. The jazz are being very childish about this and its obvious bearsandJazz cant look at this situation without being a homer.

Listen to him cry about not playing starter minutes. He didn’t earn his money or minutes so he bashes the coach and downplays the potential of his teammates to boast his own ego and value. Classy individual! I understand contracts but it doesn’t mean he’s worth it or deserves it and the fact that no other team was willing to absorb his contract says a lot. Call me what you want but I live in SLC and he has definitely burned his bridges with SLC and NBA teams. He can fade away with his 3 mill for all I care but its clear he isn’t worth the money or he would have been some where else starting and earning his money.

So let’s say your job is ending at the end of the year. your boss comes to you and says “we’ll letcha go now and give you a good reference and maybe you can get a better company during our industries hiring season, but we aren’t going to pay you your sick/vacation time”. Let’s say you’ve been working your tail off for many years and you’ve got a lot of it accrued to a level you might not ever build up again (in other words, nobody else is going to pay Bell to take vacation time) Further, let’s say you work in an industry you’re just about done in anyway, you’re super sick of it/skills not what they used to be. Like any of you would take a “minimum” buyout. Good for Raja Bell, way to work the system – and all he has to do, if he wants to keep playing, is get in really good shape, and at worse it’s a trip to the d-league or maybe china/europe, but regardless of what happens this season, someone will throw some cash at him next year after he’s had some time to spend with his family we all wish we had.

Reality is, nobody else wants Raja. Trust me, as poor as Raja’s game is at this point, the Jazz would LOVE the Lakers to pick him up. Honestly, if Raja actually had another offer on the table he would have accepted the min deal all day long. His career is over.

You can’t hate on bell for what he’s doing (as a KOBE fan I didn’t like bell after he tossed Kobe to the ground when he was playin for PHX bt you GOT TO LOVE that kinda intense ball!!) but he’s worth as much as that contract says he’s worth, 3.48$ mill. It’s a business.

they should meet in the middle on a buyout. This would alleviate their locker room concerns and Bell would have the remainder of the year to play with a contender. Him refusing to negotiate appears he is in it for the money since its guaranteed for this year. Cant blame him for looking out for his financial interest but he appears to want to stick it to Jazz more than latch on with a contender.